


All Signs Point to Auradon

by VelocityKilljoy



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bal isn't a thing in this either, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Major canon divergence, Oops, but i've honestly lost the will to care at this point, i spent too long on this and i don't know if it's even good, it just kind of isn't mentioned, this is more like a badly executed character study with a bit of fluff, what even is this?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 13:15:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19888423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VelocityKilljoy/pseuds/VelocityKilljoy
Summary: Harry Hook doesn't hate Auradon but it's difficult to love it when he's struggling, alone, and missing his old life.But maybe, with a little help from the King, everything will be alright.





	All Signs Point to Auradon

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I wrote this over two evenings and finished it at 2am yesterday. I didn't proof read it and I can't guarantee that it isn't total, utter garbage but, like, give it a chance,,
> 
> This entire thing was made for two reasons:  
> 1 - to practice writing. I can't get better if I don't at least try, so try not to rip it to shreds because my writing skills are still a work in progress  
> 2 - because there is a tragic lack of love for this ship and I want to fill some gaps for my rarepair shippers

The sun was setting over the lake. Fireflies danced in the sky, swooping and diving as they glowed like candles. The water rippled gently from the gently touch of the willow leaves that swept over the surface and there was some kind of energy that seemed to flow through the air. It was picturesque and beautiful and calm, everything Harry had been taught to despise, and yet he found himself wanting to stay and watch the water a little longer. Even when the distant chime of the curfew bell rang out, he couldn’t force himself to go. He just wanted to stay in his own private bubble of peace for the rest of eternity. Was that too much to ask? 

He groaned at the sound of the second bell. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When he had first gotten the invitation to Auradon, Harry had scoffed and turned it down. What business did he have there now that Uma was gone? He had a crew to run in the captain’s absence and there was no chance he was about to abandon ship just to go and be bored to death in some posh school for princesses and pushovers. The second letter had received a reply much to the same tune. The third, however, made him think. If he could get to Auradon then he’d be able to search for Uma, maybe even steal that precious wand that everyone seemed to love so much. So he’d accepted.  
And wasn’t that the worst idea he’d ever had?

Although Gil had also been invited, Harry had spent his first two weeks at Auradon Prep pretty much alone. The welcome he and the rest of the new VKs had received had been warm and accepting, although Harry was sure it was just a veneer of enthusiasm (he was a villain’s kid, and one that had kidnapped the king. No one in Auradon would be happy to see him there), and he had been assigned a dorm, a dorm mate (an insufferable idiot whose name he never bothered learning) and a lesson schedule. He was in none of Gil’s classes apart from, of course, Remedial Goodness so he had to venture into school life all by himself. Lovely. 

It was horrific. Harry had never truly understood just how awful his education had been until his first maths lesson had been spent barely keeping up with basic addition, let alone whatever the hell letters thought they were doing getting involved. English was better but not by far and he was really, honestly considering using the thick ‘History of Fairytales’ textbook to bash in his own skull.  
There was one class, though, that he didn’t hate as much as the rest. Home Economics actually came fairly easy to him. After years of fixing his clothes and sewing up wounds, as well as picking up some of Uma’s chip shop shifts, Harry found that the sewing and cooking weren’t all too challenging. He’d even learned how to use the sewing machine fairly quickly, which he was quite proud of.  
It also helped that he didn’t feel so alone in Home Ec. 

The first time he walked in, he didn’t know whether to be relieved or enraged when he saw Ben and Evie sitting together and chatting before the class began. He was planning to ignore them entirely, knowing he wasn’t exactly on the greatest terms with either of them, but they waved him over before he had the chance. Good god, could he not just brood in peace for ten seconds in this place?

“Harry! Long time no see.” 

Ben was the first to greet him. It was unsettling how genuine his smile seemed to Harry, who thought the King would still remember the last time they met. No one was that cheerful when meeting their ex-kidnapper again, and Harry couldn’t help but feel suspicious.

“Yeah, it’s been a while.” Harry had replied, giving Ben a lack-lustre smile and nodding his acknowledgement of Evie before taking a free seat nearby. Someone approached, babbling on about how it was their seat and how they always sat there and- The glare Harry shot them immediately sent them off to find another place.

“So, how are you finding things?” Evie asked. She spoke as if they were old friends instead of bitter, uncompromising rivals.  
Rolling his eyes, Harry gave her the most deadpan of looks.

“My lessons are shite, everyone is either spineless or so far up their own asses they can taste stomach acid, and that fairy took my fucking hook. So, yeah, it’s been just wonderful.”

From behind Evie, Ben let out a low whistle and laughed. 

“Welcome to school. They’re all like that.” He paused and then added, “Not that I don’t love it here, but lessons are rarely fun and a lot of teachers like a lot of rules.”

“Ye can say tha’ again.”

Evie let out a snort and that was when the teacher cut their conversation short, beginning the class.

Throughout the lesson, Harry found himself trading audacious remarks with the other two. He had never meant to start it but one snide comment about Ben’s stitching and then the whole hour was spent trying to make each other laugh and mess up. It was, as much as Harry hated to admit it, the most fun he’d had in a long time. Uma would have a fit if she heard her first mate re-using his comment about her blue hair on Evie. Maybe that was the good part. Maybe he liked not having to have her approval on every word he said. Whatever it was, he had enjoyed himself for once in his miserable life and he found himself disappointed when the bell rang and the class was dismissed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week and a half into his stay in Auradon, Harry stumbled upon a lake in the forest. All he’d been doing was trying to escape the stress of school for a few hours by walking in the woods when he came across a wooden bridge that looked like something out of a book. It was made of rope and wood but seemed sturdy enough so he crossed it. He had almost felt like crying when he saw the other side.  
Never in his life had he been away from the sea for so long. Just over a week might not have seemed too bad but, for Harry, the ocean had been his way of life, his only light in the darkness of the Isle. And this lake may not have been as vast or as mercurial as the sea, it was the closest thing he’d had in way too long. 

The first thing he did was take off his boots and dip his feet into the water. It felt like coming home after the longest day of his life, with the gentle rise and fall of the water around his ankles and the glimmer of the sun reflecting off of the lake’s surface grounding him and soothing the bitter loneliness he had been feeling for the last few days. 

He felt as if he should tell Gil about his find, knowing that his friend would probably be feeling the same way about missing the sea, but the quiet peace of the lake made him want to cling on to this and keep it to himself. And he didn’t care if it was selfish; he hadn’t been raised to share anyway.

After that day, Harry went to the lake whenever he could. Sometimes he would sit by the water and ponder his life like he’d never had the chance to before; other times he would stand by the edge and shout his bottled up rage out over the lake, letting all his anger and aggression float away until there was nothing left inside of him. It was nice and he’d never had anything truly nice before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It only took three more Home Ec lessons for Harry to realise that Ben and Evie thought of him as a friend. It took one more after that to realise that the grudge he bore against Evie was just a side effect of Uma’s resentment towards Mal. He had never had any quarrel with Mal’s gang aside from that (and when Jay tried to steal his pocket watch, but that was just how things were on the Isle), and he had come to realise that Evie was a sweet, down-to-earth girl with enough attitude to make any villain weep and a shameless sense of humour. 

Ben, however, was still somewhat of a mystery. Unlike most of the students at Auradon Prep, the young King’s goodness didn’t seem to be only for show. He was kind to Harry in a way that confused him, not bearing even the slightest of grudges for the whole kidnapping incident. And yet, despite his compassionate, caring nature, Ben wasn’t some stuffy, pretentious goody-two-shoes. There was a certain amount of nerve to some of his comments and a general sense of unpredictability to much of his behaviour that no doubt stemmed from the beast in his genes. Harry took a long time to learn Ben’s patterns and, even then, he had a habit of defying expectations that unnerved Harry greatly. He wasn’t used to being unable to read people but here he was, trying in vain to understand how Ben worked.

“You know the thread is supposed to go through the needle, right?” 

Harry jumped at the voice coming from right next to him, once again missing the eye of the needle on the sewing machine. 

“Fuck off, ye snarky little bastard. It’s the hardest damn part.”

Ben laughed, leaning over into Harry’s area and prying the thread from the ex-pirate’s hands.

“Here, let me help.”

As Ben threaded the needle, Harry silently cursed. That was the other thing about Ben: he had very little concept of personal space when it came to people he considered friends. Usually, Harry was the one who invaded everyone else’s space, using it to fluster people or make them uncomfortable. Now that the tables had turned, he was the one flustered and losing his composure. He knew exactly why it got to him so badly but he really, really didn’t want to admit it because denial was always the key to making his problems disappear. Or, at least, that was what he told himself. Either way, he wrote it off as Auradon making him soft, as it had done to the other VKs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Straight after the lesson, the last one of the day, Harry went the lake. He knew when the bell chimed seven that he had missed dinner but he couldn’t bring himself to care. It was still light outside, although the sun had just begun its descent, and curfew wasn’t for another hour. He wouldn’t be missed, he was sure of it, and there was no way he was going back just yet. The sunsets over the lake were beautiful and he didn’t want to miss it after his stressful day. 

There were never any beautiful sunsets on the Isle, which is why he treasured the ones in Auradon so much. The perpetual cloud that hung over the Isle made the sky grey almost constantly, marring the splendour of the stars and desaturating the wash of pinks and purples in the evening sky. On the Isle, the end of the day only meant the beginning of the night, the start of the most dangerous time of each day. There was nothing beautiful or peaceful about it, unlike here in Auradon. So Harry remained in his spot at the lake, watching as the blue sky faded into purple and pink and red, trailing his fingers across the surface of the water as if he was touching the heavens it reflected. He watched as the stars began to light up one by one and the fireflies darted through the air. 

And when the bell chimed for curfew, he ignored it until the second bell, which rang out insistently above the tree tops of the forest. As he was about to get up, sighing in annoyance, he heard a noise from among the trees. 

Instantly, he froze, trying to reason with himself that it was most likely an animal but unable to shake the feeling that someone had found him. Paranoia was something he was no stranger to but, this time, he found that it wasn’t unjustified. 

The trees rustled again and one let out a small “ouch” in a voice that Harry had become rather accustomed to over the last few weeks.

“Good evenin’, yer Majesty,” he yelled smugly into the forest. “It’s a bit undignified, isn’t it, hiding in a tree?”

The burst of laughter he got in return made his chest tighten in a peculiar way, but he didn’t mind it. A few seconds and some more rustling later, Ben emerged onto the path leading down to the tiny pavilion. He grinned at Harry as he walked over and sat down. 

“In my defence, I’ve only been here for about ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes? Look at you, leaving campus after curfew. Thought you were s’posed to be a role model.”

Ben just shrugged and leant back, resting on his elbows as he looked up at the emerging stars. A few minutes of silence passed between them. Neither wanted to break the tranquillity of the settling twilight but there was a question lingering in the back of Harry’s mind. He was afraid to ask because he was afraid of the answer but he couldn’t help feeling vulnerable not knowing the answer. After clearing his throat, his voice came out as an uncharacteristically quiet whisper.

“How often do you come here?”

“Often enough.”

“And just how often is ‘often enough’?” Harry fired back, anxious tension letting itself out in the sharpness of his words. Ben’s wince and the way he nervously scratched the back of his neck told Harry everything he needed to know.

To his credit, Ben did have enough decency to look suitably guilty.

Harry groaned and let his face drop into his hands. Was this a fucking joke? Memories of yelling into the wind and throwing the biggest rocks he could find into the lake with more force than was necessary came flooding back into his mind and he just wanted to crawl into hole and die. The sudden presence of a hand on his back jolted him back into the moment.

“I... ah. Look, I never had any intention of making you uncomfortable-“

“And what a great job you did of tha’.”

“I know, I know. And I’m sorry about that. It’s just... you always seem so at ease here. I accidentally found you last week, when I was coming down here myself, and I’ve never seen you look that comfortable anywhere else in Auradon.”

Harry raised an eyebrow.

“So ye decided to stalk me down here every evenin’?”

“Well, when you say it like that...” Ben laughed lightly, looking at Harry in a way that made him suddenly feel too hot and promptly turn away. “You know it’s nothing to be ashamed of, having somewhere to go and vent? We all have some way of letting off steam and it’s good to know you’ve found somewhere.” As Ben paused for a second, Harry looked back at him, not quite prepared for the look of concern on the King’s face. “If it isn’t prying too deep, can I ask what’s on your mind? Is there anything that’s troubling you that I can help you with?”

Ben’s eyes burned with an intensity that Harry couldn’t quite read and it made his insides turn. Before he could stop himself, and against his better judgement, Harry began spewing word vomit and spilling his guts to the other boy.

“I can’t... I just... It’s not that I hate it here but I just don’t know what the fuck I’m doin’. Everyone else is getting on great and I don’t understand how because I’m always so alone. Sure, I’ve got a bed and food and just about everything I never had on the Isle but I’m more isolated here than I ever was there. I don’t have Uma, I don’t have the crew, I don’t know anyone else and I’ve not seen Gil since he started hangin’ around with Dale and Doug or whatever you call him. The only lesson I’m not hopelessly behind in is Home Economics, unless you count that ridiculous rehab class I have to do. They’ve taken my bloody hook, which I’m still mad about by the way, and there in’t a single place left on the sword fighting team so I can’t even do the only damn thing I’ve ever been good at. I can’t steal, I can’t fight, I can’t threaten people, and even though I know that stuff is bad and all that, it’s who I’ve always been and without it I don’t know who I am anymore.”

As Harry stopped, partially because he had run out of things to say and partially because he had run out of breath, Ben stared at him with wide eyes. He remained silent for a few seconds, presumably to process everything Harry had just said, and then moved his hand from between Harry’s shoulder blades to his shoulder, gently pulling him closer into a comforting side-hug.

“It’s going to take a while to adjust, and there’s nothing I can do to stop that but I’ll do what I can to make things easier. Coach is always happy to take on reserves. You might not get to compete but you can still train with the team. I’ll talk to coach tomorrow and we’ll see what we can do about getting you kitted out.” 

Harry felt his face light up despite his attempts to control it.

“You’d really do tha’? For me?”

“Of course! You’re my friend, Harry, I’ll do whatever I can to help you out.” It was Ben’s turn to go red, a blush rising up on his cheeks as he surveyed Harry’s delighted face. “Speaking of which, why don’t you come and hang out with us sometimes? You’re already friends with Evie and you know the others. Carlos can even help you with your homework, if you’re worried about that.”

That made Harry suddenly feel a little on edge again.

“Ben, it’s not that I don’t want to but, y’see, I’m not on such good terms with Mal, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Hey, you know she only dislikes you because of Uma, right?” Ben said, shifting so that his entire body was now facing Harry. “Without their feud, I’m sure she’ll see how great you actually are. So please, give us a shot. I’d really like it if you did.”

It was then that Harry realised that he’d been unconsciously leaning closer to Ben, and that the two of them were now a mere few inches apart. Finally feeling a little more comfortable, a little more like his old self, he allowed his usual smug smirk to tug the corners of his lips upwards.

“Oh, His Highness thinks I’m great, does he now?”

Ben rolled his eyes amusedly and let out a small chuckle.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, he does.” He replied, voice steady but barely above a whisper.

Harry’s smirk faltered, not expecting Ben to react so boldly. Ben used Harry’s moment of distraction to shoot forwards and steal a fleeting kiss before leaning back. 

“I- You... you can’t just... Get back here!” Harry practically growled before tugging Ben forward by his shirt. He was met with no resistance and the smile on the King’s face told him that he was doing good.

And as they kissed under the stars, Harry didn’t feel fireworks or hear any angels singing but he did feel warm and happy and whatever the opposite of alone was.  
He was finally on the path to finding his place in Auradon.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for sticking around for that wild atrocity!!
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated and if you find any mistakes then please tell me so I don't embarrass myself in front of all four of the people who end up reading this.
> 
> xox bye


End file.
